ISO 20121 and Sustainability

So, sustainability? Before you run for cover, know that we’re not here to virtue signal, preach or humble brag.

The puppet was right, it isn’t easy being green; you make mistakes, experiment and get the terminology wrong, but you keep trying. So, what does lean, green and squeaky-clean look like? We don’t know, but, we can share the things that make us proud.

So far, we’re still one of the only agencies with the ISO 20121 sustainability certification (but humbly so!). Read more about what ISO 20121 Sustainability actually means here.

We’ve been busy implementing sustainable working systems for events, activations, campaigns and also within the Verve offices. Great, but what exactly have we been up to and what’s our plan for the future?

ISO 20121 Sustainability Certified Since 2014

ISO is a not-so-sexy sounding but really powerful management system. It gives us a structured approach to addressing sustainability in our work, both internally and with our client projects.

Sustainability is a Work in Progress

Like the Michelin Star, maintaining our ISO 20121 standard is pretty tough. Verve undergoes a rigorous audit by ISO every 6 months to ensure that we’re up to scratch and always improving. We’re always looking for new ‘sustainability opportunities’ – not just in our production process but also in the suppliers, venues and the partners we choose to work with.

Working more efficiently: asking ourselves how we can reduce the environmental impact, raising awareness and engagement through creativity and improving our offering and value for money as an agency.

We’ve appointed an internal team of 5 (Project Eden) to make Verve an airtight green machine with: compost gift-bags, eco hot-takes and personalised plants; watch this space!

Green Wins

Sustainability used to be a ‘nice to have’ but with 88% of respondents in a recent Nielsen study stating that there’s too much plastic packaging being used unnecessarily, now it’s a ‘must have’.

Is it really worth it? Yes. Check out our Green Wins below:

Sustainability is good for business and that makes for happy CFOs. Less waste is a wide-reaching ethos, encompassing less wasted budget, time, energy and resources.

75% of Irish people surveyed (Nielsen Report) think that the government should intervene to introduce fees or restrictions on producers for the use of plastics. We need to clean up our act now, change is coming.

Sustainability can work as the creative inspiration and not the creative buzz-killer.

Happy, shiny customers and staff – people expect that your work won’t traumatise the planet and will go elsewhere if it does.

Most importantly, it’s the right thing to do for this one-of-a-kind planet and all the beautiful specimens on it.

Also, we could all do with a little less sustainability guilt, so we’re happy to do our bit.